Initiative kicked off with $115 million gift from philanthropists Tianqiao Chen and Chrissy Luo to establish a new institute and provide continuous funds for neuroscience research. Caltech to construct $200 million biosciences complex that will include new institute.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced its second round of funding in furtherance of President Obama's Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnology—or BRAIN—Initiative. Four Caltech researchers were amongst those who received awards.

New faculty member Betty Hong is part of a team of researchers that will use new NSF funding to create synthetic odor stimuli that mimic those found in nature, to help them study how the brain processes and reacts to smells.

Caltech geochemist Clair Patterson (1922–1995) helped galvanize the environmental movement 50 years ago when he announced that highly toxic lead could be found essentially everywhere on Earth, including in our own bodies—and that very little of it was due to natural causes.

In studying the brain activity of test subjects as they decided to make either generous or selfish choices in range of circumstances, Caltech researchers found that a simple computational model could explain and understand altruistic behavior.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) has selected Caltech professor of biology Doris Tsao (BS '96) as one of 26 new HHMI investigators. Investigators represent some of the nation's top biomedical researchers and receive five years of funding to "move their research in creative new directions."